April 21, 2009
STANFORD, Calif. - A resurgent Stanford men's volleyball program has earned the right to play host to a postseason match for the first time since 2003, all thanks to a turn of events in the final match of conference play.
Stanford (21-10) will play host to USC (17-10) at Maples Pavilion on Saturday, with the first serve at 7 p.m.
A few hours after Stanford swept visiting UCLA, the Cardinal learned it clinched homecourt advantage for the first round of the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation tournament. USC's upset loss to 10th place Hawai'i knocked the Trojans from a possible fourth seed into fifth.
Now, it's the Trojans that must come to Stanford, rather than the other way around.
Stanford is only two seasons removed from a 3-25 campaign, and has already improved upon last season's 17-11. In fact, Stanford has more victories in a season since 1997, when it went 27-3 and won the national championship.
Enthusiasm is high around campus and Stanford hopes to translate that into a large crowd.
Tickets will be available at the door for $10 for adults and $5 for students. However, the first 250 students to arrive at Maples will get in free.
Here is the MPSF tournament schedule:
First round
Saturday, 7 p.m.
No. 5 seed USC (17-10) at No. 4 Stanford (21-10)
No. 8 UCLA (14-15) at No. 1 UC Irvine (24-4)
No. 6 BYU (17-12) at No. 3 Cal State Northridge (23-6)
No. 7 Long Beach State (14-13) at No. 2 Pepperdine (20-4)
Semifinals at highest remaining seed
Thursday, April 30
Stanford-USC winner vs. UCLA-UC Irvine winner
BYU-Cal State Northridge winner vs. Long Beach State-Pepperdine winner
Championship at semifinal site
Saturday, May 2
Semifinal winners
(Winner gets automatic bid to NCAA tournament)